MS INTUNE: How to Deploy Contactzilla Address Books to Android Devices using Intune MDM

This guide assumes you already have Microsoft Intune configured and Android devices enrolled in Intune. We’ll walk you through creating the JSON file in Contactzilla and deploying it via Intune.

What You’ll Need

1. A Contactzilla account with an existing address book. Please see our getting started guide here
2. An MDM team member created in your Contactzilla account (required prerequisite – see setup below)
3. Microsoft Intune configured with enrolled Android devices
4. Admin access to your Intune admin center

Prerequisites – MDM Team Member Setup

⚠️ Important: Before you can create mobile configuration files for MDM deployment, you must first set up an MDM team member in your Contactzilla account. This creates the specialized user account needed for device deployments and generating the JSON file to add to MS Intune

If you haven’t created one yet, follow the steps for creating an MDM team member in our detailed setup guide:
Setting Up MDM Deployments in Contactzilla

Creating the MDM Device Connection in Contactzilla

Step One: Set Up Your MDM Connection

1) Login to Contactzilla and select the address book that you wish to deploy to your Android devices.

2) Click on ‘Device Connections’. From here we will create a CardDAV connection specifically designed for MDM deployment.. From here we will create a CardDAV connection specifically designed for MDM deployment.

From the ‘Create New Device Connection’ screen that follows configure the following settings from the dropdown menus:

Connection Type: ‘Android’
Assign to Team Member: Select your MDM team member (created in the prerequisite setup above)
Label Sync Method: Leave as default ‘As Categories’
Access Type: Choose based on your needs

• ‘Full Read/Write’ (if devices need to add/edit contacts)
• ‘Full Read Only’ (recommended for managed devices to prevent accidental changes)
• ‘Selective Read Only’ (if you only want specific labeled contacts)

Tip 💡: For Read only deployments you have an option to append a lock emoji to each contact in the native contacts app to make it clear to a user that any changes will not be written to the server.

Number of Device Connections: Set to the number of devices you plan to deploy to

Click the ‘Create’ button to generate your new Device connection.

Step Two: Download the Contactzilla Configuration File

1) After clicking Create, you’ll see your new Device connection listed in the connections panel. Click the ‘Setup’ button on your new connection and choose ‘Download Profile’.

Save the JSON file to your computer – you’ll need this file for the Intune deployment.

Step Three: Deploying the Configuration via Microsoft Intune

Create Custom Configuration Profile

1) Login to your Microsoft Intune admin center at intune.microsoft.com > Click on Apps > Manage apps > Configuration > Create > Managed devices.

2) Define the basics for your app configuration policy

Name: e.g. Contactzilla Sync – Android BYOD – App Config – Skyline Demo.

Description: Optional – e.g. Managed App Config (JSON) for Skyline BYOD devices; updated as address books change.

Device enrollment type: Managed devices (pre-filled).

Platform: Android Enterprise.

Profile Type: All Profile Types > or choose Personally-Owned Work Profile if you want to be explicit.

Targeted app: Select app > Contactzilla Sync > Select.

Click Next > move to Settings.

Step 4: Configure settings – paste JSON file

Permissions
If you already auto-grant Android runtime permissions for Contactzilla Sync when installing the app in Intune, you can leave the Permissions section of this app-config policy Not configured.

1) Permissions: leave Not configured (unless you need a per-app override).
2) Set Configuration settings format > Enter JSON data.
3) In the JSON editor: Select all > Delete the placeholder template > Paste all the text present inside the JSON file you downloaded from Contactzilla.

4) Connected apps: leave Not configured — Contactzilla Sync only needs to create/sync contacts inside the work profile; it doesn’t need to talk to a personal version of the app.
5) Click Next.

Step 5: Assign the policy to your Android group

1) In the Assignments tab that follows, under Included Groups choose Add groups

2) In the Select groups to include window sthat opens, search your device group and select it > hit Select.

3) Click Next > review the summary > Hit Create.

Step 5: Verify the contacts on the devices

After the policy is assigned, check that the Contactzilla address book appears in the native contacts app on your device – If you have a work profile installed on a BYOD device it will be the COntacts app with the brief case icon.
If it needs an extra nudge:

On the phone (work profile): open Company Portal > Check status > Sync > wait for “Device is compliant”.

From Intune (optional extra nudge): Devices > select the phone > Sync > confirm.

Open Contactzilla Sync (work) > leave it open for ~10–20 seconds to finish provisioning.

Forcing a sync on a device will give Intune a nudge to check in with the device

Here’s what success looks like on a BYOD work profile:

1. Provisioned in Contactzilla Sync
   The app shows your address book tile (e.g., Project Cascade Tower) with “Account settings are managed by <your org>”. That means the JSON config applied.
2. Visible in the native Contacts app
   Open Contacts (work) > choose Contacts to display > you’ll see the Contactzilla address book as a selectable source and the contacts listed.
3. Labels come through as lists
   Contactzilla labels (including group labels like department:IT) appear as lists in Contacts, so teams can filter quickly and keep everything tidy.